"An Around-the-World-Ticket for Two, Please."

Canada Eh!

Posted by Sarah O'Neill , Thursday 27 October 2011 09:48

On Sunday 12th June we crossed the border and headed into Canada. We had booked our hotel in Vancouver, and had read a lot of reviews! We knew it wasn't in the best area, but most people had commented that it was fine and they felt safe, so we plumped for it as the price was right! When we got there we decided to go straight out for a walk to explore. It was like nothing I have ever seen! The area we were in is called East Hastings, and is renowned to be a dodgy area, with lots of homeless people, however, this does not paint the right picture. Imagine walking down the street, and finding it hard to make your way through the crowds, nut the crowds are the homeless people. Lying on the street or pushing shopping trolleys up and down, there are literally hundreds of them along this street. I also saw someone using a crack pipe for the first time, and in my naivity had to ask Ben what it was! This became a very common sight while we were there. We also saw women propositioning men frequently, and lots more drug abuse. It was very sad, and such an eye opener, as it is so in your face. Vancouver is one of the mildest places in Canada, and has a lot of social support for the homeless etc, which is why there is such a huge population, and East Hastings seems to be the place they congragate, as when you turn off this street, things return to 'normality'. Vancouver is a very beautiful city and when you get near the water it is even nicer. There was a lovely old part of town, Gastown, which had some old buildings and a steam powered clock! We wondered around and explored, and also booked a Whale watching tour for the next day.

The whale watching tour was a good day out, a 3 hour boat trip to the spot to see them, and we did see them! However, the boats can not get closer than 50m, and they stay even further away than this, so you actually don't get to see the Killer Whales that well, which is a shame. It was a lot of money for what it was, but we had a good day out, and did get some pics, even though the whales are pretty small! The boat trip was lovely and we got to see some beautiful scenery! When we got back, we decided to stay in town, as the Canucks (the ice hockey team!) were playing in a very important game, which was being shown on big screens in the town. So we found a piece of pavement to sit on and got into the game spirit, it was great atmosphere!

On Tuesday we went to Granville Island, a fun market place where we had a nice lunch! In the afternoon we explored Stanley Park, a huge park in the city, with lots of walks and things to see! We saw some awesome totem poles and beautiful scenery! On Wednesday we booked to go on a bus trip to the Capoline Suspension Bridge, which is a very old suspension bridge and a kind of little theme park area. We enjoyed lunch there, and a stroll around, and of course over the bridge! On the other side there were some treetop walks which we did, before heading back on the bus. We got our stuff from the hotel, and headed to the greyhound station for our overnight trip to Salem, Oregon, to see the libby's!!!